I'm unable to donate plasma because they can usually only find one good vein so if something goes wrong with that one vein they couldn't give my blood back. I'll have to look for a Red Cross or a blood drive though because they love my one good vein!

whylime13

hey I just signed up for an appointment a week from today! The last few times I've tried to donate I was turned away due to low iron, but I'll start taking my vitamins now and will hopefully be fine.

I just get so frustrated with the red cross in that since I've moved 7 times in 7 years they can't keep tabs on me (and now I've changed my name to boot) so not only am I getting calls for urgent blood needs in cities 150+ miles away - I have apparently donated to 2 different regional centers, with totally different records and neither will acknowledge donations made to the other. Or donations made in a different name I guess, so now I'm back to "first time" donor status.

I know that's not the point of giving blood, but it just bothers me that my records wrong. I sent the new place an e-mail, maybe they can sort it out once and for all.

When the Red Cross guy came into our office asking to put up flyers for a recent blood drive he told me it's not the Red Cross who decides you can't donate after chemo or living overseas or whatever. It's the US Food and Drug Administration (obviously this only applies in the USA).

Here's what's weird to me: according to the posted restrictions, the fact that we lived in Italy as military circa 1980 is a problem, as was our living in the UK from 1986 to 1989. These restrictions were placed in 1996. Between 1980 and 1996 my father donated blood probably 90 to 100 times. He used to go in every 8 to 9 weeks. Mom donated less often because of recurring anemia but she probably put 30+ pints into the pool as well. There has never been a recorded case of a person getting Mad Cow from a blood transfusion. The restriction doesn't even make sense. I hate that I've never been able to donate because I didn't break the weight barrier until 1997.

I donated yesterday. I try to donate every 8 weeks. The van comes to the YMCA where I work out, which makes it convenient. I am lucky enough not to have major reactions; I've only fainted once and that was because I went to jewelry class too quickly afterward(lots of standing). However, I agree with some of the previous posters that the number of restrictions really affects the supply. And they keep adding new ones! One reasons I donate as much as I can now is that someday I suspect one or more of those restrictions may apply to me, so I make hay while the sun shines.

By the way, do some of the more personal questions make anyone else crack up? I can't help but laugh at how ridiculous certain questions about scrabble-related activities sound when said quickly and in a monotone!

Joan

Logged

Chicken-keeper, welder, artist, student and lover of all things literary.

Edited to add: the questions were written & a real person reviewed them and asked for clarification when necessary (e.g. the list of African countries I've visited)

The San Francisco Chronicle reported yesterday that the state government employee furloughs are adversely affecting blood donations. The Franchise Tax Board has about 5000 employees in one location. For years, the local blood bank has been sending their Bloodmobile to the location about 6 times a year. Employees were given informal time off to donate or help with organizing donations. Now, "Thanks to budget-cutting furloughs - which force workers to take three unpaid days off a month - the tax board has decided its staffers no longer have the time to lie down for an hour and donate.""

I gave on 9/2, does that count? I'm O- and the Red Cross is after me like a hungry vampire.

We refer to the blood bank employees as vampires. As in: "Honey, I'll be home later tonight, the vampires called me today."

The blood drive at Dragon*Con (a big science fiction / fantasy conference in Atlanta) was sponsored by the "vampire" track of programming They also had a big sign up - you could donate "For the Horde!" or "For the Alliance!" (the two warring factions in the game World of Warcraft), and they'd announce the winner at a big party in the evening. I thought it was a brilliant idea, and I was sad I didn't get the chance to mark my donation as for the Alliance